Abstract: The records contain correspondence; program plans and proposals; medical records and statistics; budgets and other financial
records; staff rosters; miscellaneous religious publications; newspaper clippings; brochures, and other publications describing
the work of All Nations; annual reports; committee reports, agendas, and minutes; and staff reports on activities. This collection
encompasses the years 1925-1978, with the bulk of the material dating frmo the decade of the 1930s.

creator:
All Nations Foundation (Los Angeles, Calif.).

creator:
Church of All Nations (Los Angeles, Calif.).

Historical note

All Nations, in its heyday the largest and most effective social welfare organization in Los Angeles, was begun in 1918 in
an east-central section of the city known as "Eastside." Immigration from Europe, Latin America, and Asia into Eastside, coupled
with the incursion of wholesale businesses there, led to the departure of the middle class residents of this formerly comfortable
community. Local churches, deprived of their original congregations, were dismayed at the prospect of serving this new, needy
immigrant population, but the City Missionary Society of the Methodist Church had been looking for just such a settlement
opportunity. It sent in a young pastor, Bromley Oxnam, fired with the church's social gospel doctrine to establish a church
settlement house in an abandoned church. The collection records the practical energy of Oxnam--later a Methodist bishop--as
he gathered donations, organized volunteers, bought land and buildings, equipped gymnasiums, playgrounds, libraries, and clinics
for a community where three-fourths of the families were on public assistance. His crowning work in developing the physical
facilities of All Nations was the acquisition of a complex of buildings at 810-816-824 E. Sixth Street, in 1927, just before
his resignation from All Nations on 1 July 1927 (Oxnam preached his farewell sermon at All Nations on 19 June 1927). Oxnam's
successor was the Reverend Robert A. McKibben, whose superior gifts as administrator, social worker, fund raiser, and collaborator
with other social welfare agencies, including the Federal and Los Angeles Relief Administrations, and the National Youth Administration,
ensured the continued success of All Nations.

Character building activities for the children, a vacation bible school, the library, and medical programs were critical services
in the work of All Nations. The last program consisted of a cadre of approximately fifty volunteer doctors, optometrists,
and dentists who served the destitute clients of All Nations. Especially noteworthy was All Nations' extraordinarily successful
Boys Club. In 1927, when acquiring its new facilities, the department working with boys became a Boys Club of America, with
some 950 members from thirty nationalities and fifteen religions. The Eastside had had the highest delinquency rate in the
city, but within the next three years this would drop by 65%. Deeply impressed by this aspect of All Nation's service to the
Eastside, an unknown donor funded a children's medical clinic at All Nations, even though the Depression battered the United
States. (This donor's name in his or her contacts with All Nations was "A. Donor"; see for example box 5, folder 4.) All Nations
also operated two other community centers: the Sunset Community Center at 1001-1005 Sunset Boulevard, and the Hollenbeck Heights
Social Center at 200 North St. Louis Street. These branches of All Nations concentrated on work with youths.

Reverend McKibben left All Nations in 1952, and was succeeded by James Mixon. The character of the Eastside had begun to change,
and by the 1960s new industrial development in the area and slum clearance had reduced the area's population. Such changes
led to questions about the usefulness of traditional settlement programs in this area; at the same time All Nations' principal
support began to come from the United Way and not the Methodist Church. All Nations, a monument to successful social work,
no longer exists.

All information in this history comes from material in the collection or from Robert McKibben, With The Master into the Heart
of the City: First Forty Years of All Nations Foundations ([S.l.] [s.n.], 1977?); the founding date of 1918 is provided by
Mark H. Wild in Street Meeting: Multiethnic Neighborhoods in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2005).

Conditions Governing Use

The use of archival materials for on-site research does not constitute permission from the California Social Welfare Archives
to publish them. Copyright has not been assigned to the California Social Welfare Archives, and the researcher is instructed
to obtain permission to quote from or publish manuscripts in the CSWA's collections from the copyright holder.

Related Archival Materials

Robert A. McKibben Papers (McKibben's papers not related to All Nations); All Nations Church and Foundation photographs

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder# or item name], All Nations Church and Foundation records, Collection no. 0403, California Social Welfare Archives,
Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for access.

Organization

This collection has been divided into four series, some with subseries: Programs; Administrative/Organizational Papers; Correspondence;
and Outside Agencies. The series are subject-based and generally have not been physically grouped together in the same container;
thus, the physical size of each series has not been identified, only the number of folders.

Scope and Content

The All Nations collection consists of two parts; the textual holdings described in this finding aid, and the photographic
collection described in a separate finding aid. Both parts of the collection are rich. The All Nations Church and Foundation
records consists of correspondence, including that of Robert A. McKibben; program plans and proposals; medical records and
statistics; budgets and other financial records; staff rosters; miscellaneous religious publications; newspaper clippings;
brochures and other publications describing the work of All Nations; annual reports; committee reports, agendas, and minutes;
and staff reports on activities. This collection encompasses the years 1925-1978, with the bulk of the material dating from
the decade of the 1930s; much less material exists for the following three decades, and nothing for All Nations' immediate
history before its demise.

Acquisition

Gift of James Blaine, former Director, All Nations Boys Club.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

All Nations Foundation (Los Angeles, Calif.). -- Archives

Church of All Nations (Los Angeles, Calif.). -- Archives

McKibben, Robert A., (Robert Anderson), 1895-1984 -- Archives

Methodist Episcopal Church. -- Archives

Brochures

Clinics--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources

Clippings

Correspondence

Financial records

Los Angeles (Calif.)--History--Archival resources

Los Angeles (Calif.)--Social conditions--Archival resources

Minutes

Printed ephemera

Social history--Societies and clubs--Social aspects--Archival resources

Social service--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources

Administrative/Organizational Records1925-1978

Scope and Contents note

10 folders. This collection comprises the miscellaneous papers and publications generated by All Nations; this includes All
Nations publications such as informational booklets and publicity brochures; staff applications; miscellaneous religious publications,
newspaper clippings, etc.

Publications re church work and social work, eg, "The Filipino Youth"; clipping re work of All Nations; "Special Surveys and
Studies Progress Reports #3, 4, and 5", for State Relief Administration.

Box 2, Folder 9

Records1935

Scope and Contents note

Typewritten manuscripts of history of All Nations; agency description

Box 3, Folder 8

Records1945-1946

Scope and Contents note

Radio scripts for public service program "One Way Street," with Robert McKibben commenting on social problems.

Box 3, Folder 13

Records1964

Scope and Contents note

Booklet on All Nations Church and its work; All Nations Foundation program projection study.

Box 4, Folder 7

Records1933

Scope and Contents note

Corr., reports on giving publicity plan campaign re publicity efforts for All Nations by the firm Tamblyn and Brown. See All
Nations Church and Foundation photographs, Centers and Community series, Box 1, Folder 5.

Robert A. McKibben, "With the Master into the Heart of the City: First Forty Years of All Nations Foundation"circa 1977

Scope and Content

McKibben's memoirs.

Correspondence1929-1960

Scope and Contents note

8 folders. This series was created for outgoing and incoming correspondence not related to specific All Nations activities
or services, eg, the medical programs. Reverend Robert McKibben authored much of this correspondence, especially the letters
of thanks to donors, and the bulk of both his hand and the other correspondence is copies made for the record files of All
Nations.

Correspondence re All Nations business, eg, subsidy from Methodist Board of Home Missions and Church Extension.

Box 2, Folder 2

Correspondence1929-1941

Scope and Contents note

Incoming and outgoing correspondence, with accompanying material, re Dr. Robert McKibben and All Nations business; various
studies on social problems bear handwritten last name of McKibben, indicating his ownership.

Box 2, Folder 3

Correspondence1930-1941

Scope and Contents note

Reports for Dr. McKibben; outgoing and incoming correspondence re Dr. Robert McKibben (includes letters on Japanese immigration
quota bill); papers re All Nations and related matters, eg, Council of Social Agencies.

Box 3, Folder 1

Correspondence1932-1960

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence re thank you letters to donors; letter from children at camps to their donors; All Nations certificates of
appreciation.

Box 3, Folder 2

Correspondence1936-1940

Scope and Contents note

Correspondence between Robert McKibben and Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, and between R. McKibben and Ruth Oxnam (the Bishop's wife);
copies of 1916 letters from Edwin Ryland to Oxnam, with article in "Methodist Mission Witness" re All Nations.

14 folders. Subseries: Religious, Public, Private. All Nations' material from its extensive contacts with social welfare agencies,
public and private, secular and religious, is identified in the series "Outside Agencies", with the subseries "Religious",
"Public", and "Private" indicating the nature of these agencies. The subseries "Religious" includes the Los Angeles Missionary
and Church Extension Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist agency responsible for funding All Nations.
Material regarding All Nations' contacts with government agencies is found under the subseries "Public". Of special interest
is how this subseries documents the development of the Welfare State in the Depression, through such materials as correspondence
and federal forms from the National Youth Administration. the subseries "Private" identifies material concerning secular,
non-governmental social agencies, such as the Los Angeles Welfare Council.

31 folders. Subseries: Neighborhood Centers, Clinics, Boys' Camp. The records of a number of All Nations programs for its
clientele of Los Angeles' Eastside are preserved in this collection. Hence, this series made up of program proposals, budgets
and financial statements, newspaper clippings, staff rosters, correspondence, committee reports, agendas, and minutes. The
All Nations Sunset and Hollenbeck youth centers play prominent roles in this series, and are accounted for in the subseries
"Neighborhood Center". The run of material on all Nations' dental, medical, and apotometrical clinics is identified by the
subseries "Clinics".

Box 1, Folder 1

Programs1925-1931

Scope and Contents note

All Nations Library: book lists' lists of book fines and receipts for book fines, and list of books missing; list of books
borrowed and received by Library; correspondence with Los Angeles Public Library re payment of book fines.

Box 1, Folder 4

Programs1925-1926

Scope and Contents note

Reports and strategic guidelines by Charles Thompson, Director of Boys Work re Boys Work program; paper for university class
by Charles Thompson.

Memoranda & proposal on Child Welfare Clinic; reports on progress of Child Welfare Clinic; roster of students working at Clinic;
clipping re Clinic donation; announcement re contest for social service project (won by All Nations)